Brethren
tentacles, mandibles | UnusualFeatures = | Origin = Bacteria of Omega Climion Six, given sentience by the Celestials to serve as their enforcer | GalaxyOfOrigin = | StarSystemOfOrigin = | HomePlanet = | PlaceOfBirth = Omega Climion Six | Creators = Bob Harras | First = Avengers #334 | HistoryText = Origin After the First Host on Earth, the Celestials devised they needed to have a control on the powerful Eternals; in other words, a counter-balance. Over 200,000 years ago, The Celestials, or at least Ziran the Tester and Nezarr the Calculator, used the bacteria (since they were the ones who kept all life in check) Bacilli, spirilla, and cocci of the planet Omega Climion Six, and mixed them to fashion a new race of humanoids, the Brethren. Allegedly, fleets of Brethren followed Arishem the Judge, awaiting for each of his judgments and applying his sentence on unworthy worlds, leaving them lifeless, dead and infected. Discarded and Collected Eventually, the Celestials lost interested in the Brethren, who allegedly fell out of Arishem's favors, and were let loose on the universe. Over time, their leader took the title of Thane, and was the guardian of their secret origin. Unaware of their origins (save for Thane and his brother), and pressed by the urge to destroy life and move on, they spread terror and genocide through the universe. Their legends made them terrors of the stars. They caused unparallel destruction in the cosmos, and allegedly caused the fall of thousand worlds and races, with all of it witnessed by the Watcher. Five thousands years ago, they were captured by the Collector and imprisoned on his ship for many decades, reduced in size. In the Collection The Collector, wishing to cull the numbers of humanity in the hopes that the specimens he would collect would be the last of their kind and thus making his collection truly singular, had planned the escape of the Brethren. Seemingly under the lead of Brethren Lord Thane Ector, they escaped their own receptacle, traveled into the Collector's miniaturized ecosystems and killed people, specifically women, children and old ones, including Nakka's alien primitive people, as they proceeded before their internment, fitting the Collector's want to destroy part of his collection he deemed redundant. At some point, they left Olar, oldest of the Brethren, to die, as he was deemed too frail to escape with the others. Return The Collector then crashed his ship in the Blue Area of the Moon and was seemingly neutralized by the Brethren who then escaped the spacecraft. Coming into conflict with the Inhumans, they captured Quicksilver, Karnak and Timberius. Thane Ector and his consort Lady Sybyl Dorn tortured them and eventually learned of Earth from Timberius. They set out to conquer it, having heard of the planet's triumph over Galactus. They were repelled and teleported away from the Blue Area by coalized forces of Inhumans and Avengers, and were soon warned of the threat by the Watcher. In the three following days, the Brethren made earthfall and Ector led several assaults against population centers, including Paris in France, while causing severe casualties. There, they were confronted by the Avengers who made them retreat, but not without hurting Captain Amercia and abducting Sersi. They then teleported the Citadel of Thane Ector to top of the World Trade Center, Lower Manhattan, New York City and officially claimed Earth for the Brethren. There, Ector made moves towards Sersi, with the intent of consorting with her. While Brethren combated police and Avengers, Ector disregarded his people's customs, admiring the Avengers and even more so the Eternal Sersi, sensing a bond between their species due to their shared Celestial origins, and willingness to overcome the origins of his species. In the Collector's museum, scientist Avengers Beast and Black Panther, along with the Collector and Quasar followed the trail of the Brethren in the miniaturized ecosystems, eventually burying their companion Nakka, victim of the Brethren's attacks aftermaths. Nakka's grave was then attacked by Olar, hungering. Sybyl Dorn tried to accuse Ector of treason for his proximity with Sersi, but his brother the Fool was able to undermine his efforts by revealing the alliance of the Avengers with the Collector, pushing Ector to reject the Eternal and assemble his troops. At the same time the Brethren multitudes emerged from their Citadel and headed to the Avengers Mansion where the Collector killed Olar, in order to prevent the Avengers from discovering anything about his studies on him. The Brethren attacked the Mansion, and ultimately, Ector wrestled with the Collector, who easily repelled his assailant and revealed his role in their escape. Truth Revealed As the Brethren learned about their origins, the Collector started blasting them, removing their sentience and spreading them to infect Earth, with the Avengers unable to repel them. At that point, the Fool was tormented by his psychic link to his kind's group consciousness. Vision suggested that Ector and the Fool could reason with the fading sentience of their fellow species and that the Brethren were experiencing a primitive form of phenomena close of the Eternals' Uni-Mind. Under the tutelage of Sersi, and protected by Quasar's force field, Thane and the Fool were able to form the Uni-Mind, allegedly proving that the Celestials had cared in the creation of the Brethren. The Uni-Mind then assaulted the Collector, and overwhelmed him to the point he asked for the Watcher's help, in vain. He was quickly destroyed, but that last effort resulted in the destruction of the Uni-Mind, while the Collector in fact teleported back to his ship. The strain of the Uni-Mind cost the lives of both the last Brethren Fool and Thane Ector, with the latter passing away in Sersi's arms while obtaining a last kiss. Captain America epilogued that the Brethren had in the end become what Ector wanted them to be. Aftermaths Allegedly destroyed, the Brethren had, in fact, departed Earth, and came back to the Collector's ship with the intent of leaving a deadly surprise for him in the freeing of most of his collection, including a Mondani carrying a deadly virus. Sersi forming a Uni-Mind with the Brethren was considered proof of her instability by her fellow Eternals, as cross-species Uni-Mind are supposed to be forbidden. Traditions and Religion The tradition (part of a religion to an unknown god) of the Brethren is that native blood must be spilled on each planet fall. The Brethren formerly took no prisoners, but Thane Ector derogated to that tradition to take Sersi. They could marry and breed only amongst themselves, and were not allowed to consort with outsiders, such as Thane Ector intended to do with Sersi. Their holy text was also forbidden to non-Brethren. The Brethren also abandoned their elders when they are not fit enough anymore to follow, with such treatment being considered an honorable death. Thane and Fool The Thane was the leader of this race. They are considered to be the most perfect of the Brethren and led them. The Fool was allegedly a throwback who should had been killed at birth, not being a "true Brethren". Each Thane always gave birth to two brothers, with one leading: the Thane, while the other was to go mad: The Fool, and remain by his side. In this case, the Fool considered that the Thane was the one to go insane. When a boy who is destined to become Thane reaches his 15th year, he, along with his brother, are told the truth about the Brethren, and are sworn to keep it secret to their people. Both are granted limited telepathic powers to control the blood lust of the Brethren in battle. Biology Ethology The Brethren all have the urge to conquer and destroy life. Forms and Powers Evolved from single-celled organisms, they still maintain the ability to revert to a giant amoeboid form. While Thane Ector and Sybyl Dorn are blue-skinned red-haired Brethren, many humanoid forms have been witnessed among their ranks, including pink-skinned humanoid, and semi-humanoid forms. Some Brethren possessed powers unshared with their kinds: * Optic Blasts: Thane Ector and Sybyl Dorn had energy eye-beams. * Telepathy and Uni-Mind: Fool and Thane are gifted with limited telepathy in order to control the blood lust of the Brethren in battle. The Fool proved to be gifted with strong telepathy, stronger's than any of its kind. The Fool and with Ector, aided by Sersi, were able to from their Uni-Mind. * Olar could control tendrils emanating from his body. The Brethren generally presented superhuman strength. The Brethren nourished from microbes and bacteria. Once the Brethren came to a world, the survivors were seemingly infected and weakened, with their children still-born, lifespans shortened and people sick, deprived of their bacteria and germs. | Habitat = | Gravity = | Atmosphere = | Population = There were allegedly millions of the Brethren. | Powers = | Abilities = | AvgStrength = | Weaknesses = | GovernmentType = Citizens led by a Thane, and secretly by his brother the Fool if the former went mad. Seemingly deposable by an assembly. | TechnologyLevel = Technology plundered: Force fields, teleporters, armors, matter with complex molecular structure rearranging itself against manipulation, fleets of warships | CulturalTraits = | Representatives = Thane Ector, Sybyl Dorn, Fool, Olar | Notes = * The Brethren were Collector's favorite specimens in his collection. * Impressed by Quicksilver's resistance to torture, Sybyl Dorn stated he could be a Brethren. * Sybyl Dorn is the only known female Brethren. * The current status and whereabouts of the Brethren are blurry: While they appear to be extinct (the Uni-Mind destroyed, Fool dead with it, and Thane Ector quickly dying as well), they were told to have fled Earth, destroyed the Collector's ship and released his collection. * The Brethren were considered distant cousins by the Eternals. | Trivia = | Links = }} Category:Celestials Experiment Category:Brethren Category:Collector's Museum Category:Species Manipulated by Celestials Category:Bacteria Category:Shapeshifters Category:Races of Aliens